


I got so much soul in my body

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Day 4, Jetko Renaissance Week, Modern Era, Werewolf!AU, prompt: tenderness, the werewolf rules are based on Teen Wolf but you don't need to know anything about that show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27133039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "“Hey, how are you feeling?” Jet asks once he’s standing in front of Zuko, who’s sitting in the living room in the lotus position, trying to calm his breath.“Nervous,” he responds without a pause, partly because he doesn’t want to lie to his Alpha, partly because… well, they’re werewolves and can hear when another person lies. But, to be fair, Zuko is a terrible liar even without that. But also, mostly, he simply doesn’t want to lie to Jet."
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 46
Collections: Jetko Renaissance Week





	I got so much soul in my body

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back to Teen Wolf, so this was bound to happen.
> 
> Anyhow, this isn’t a crossover with that show; the werewolf rules are simply taken from Teen Wolf. Basically, you have the Alpha of a pack, its Betas (werewolves or otherwise), and those who don’t belong in a pack (whether by choice or because they were thrown out) are Omegas. You don’t always have to belong in the same pack.
> 
> The Alphas have red eyes, no matter what, while Betas and Omegas can either have gold eyes, or blue eyes, which means they've taken an innocent life. Werewolves can also smell and hear better – which helps them know how another person is feeling (they can hear someone’s heartbeat to know if they’re lying, for instance).

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Jet asks once he’s standing in front of Zuko, who’s sitting in the living room in the lotus position, trying to calm his breath.

“Nervous,” he responds without a pause, partly because he doesn’t want to lie to his Alpha, partly because… well, they’re werewolves and can hear when another person lies. But, to be fair, Zuko is a terrible liar even without that. But also, mostly, he simply doesn’t want to lie to Jet.

“You’re going to do fine,” Jet promises, sitting down in front of him, though in a simpler position than Zuko’s.

Zuko doesn’t say anything in response; too many possibilities to choose just one. And just because Zuko is a bad liar, it doesn’t mean he’s a big fan of simply sprouting everything he’s thinking of either.

“I’m happy you accepted to be in my pack,” Jet says and lays a hand on one of Zuko’s knees, who turns his eyes downward to it. It’s been a very long time since Zuko’s been around people who touched so freely and, if he’s honest, he’s having a hard time simply accepting it. But the idea of it stopping… He doesn’t want to ask Jet to give him some room and lose all of it.

But Jet, possibly because he’s the Alpha, possibly just because he’s _Jet_ , seems to know and after squeezing his knee, lets go, putting both his hands in the middle of his legs, though in no specific meditation position.

He closes his eyes and Zuko knows he should do the same; take the chance to focus on Jet’s breathing – always slow, always calm, always strong – and try and copy it as best as he can. But he can’t help but to stare at him instead.

Zuko knows Jet isn’t perfect. He is, after all, a powerful Alpha with only two Betas. He should, maybe, push harder on the truth, but he fears being thrown out if he asks too many questions and, if he’s honest, he also fears the truth.

But then again, it’s not like Zuko hasn’t done his fair share of mistakes. _Let him who is without sin cast the first stone_ and all that.

His eyes might be gold, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t blood in his hands. Zuko is just lucky none of his mistakes ever turned mortal.

At the time, of course, he hadn’t felt lucky. He’d just felt… lost and angry and not, he now realizes, at who he should have been. No, instead he’d blamed himself.

Zuko had been the one who’d told his Alpha – his _father_ – that one of his Betas was planning on massacring another pack. And for that, he’d been thrown out of the pack, with a scar on his face that strangers couldn’t quite believe he’d survived, and which told everyone in the supernatural world exactly what had happened.

And, for years, Zuko had truly believed he’d been in the wrong – it didn’t help that he’d had proof of it staring him back in the face whenever he passed a reflecting surface.

“What are you thinking about?” Jet asks and even though Zuko had never closed his eyes, he’s still caught by surprise, meeting Jet’s eyes with his own.

He opens his mouth, but this time nothing comes out.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Jet says, and he doesn’t sound or smell nervous, his heart isn’t beating faster than usual, yet, for the first time, Zuko wonders if Jet too hopes he doesn’t ask too many questions; if he’d rather keep his secrets, not out of mistrust, but out of shame.

“I haven’t gone through a full moon as a Beta in years,” Zuko finally says. It’s not what he’d been thinking, but it’s certainly a thought that has gone through his head in the last few days.

“But you remember,” Jet says and it isn’t a question. Zuko nods, words once again caught in his throat.

How could he forget? Even when things got bad – after his grandfather’s sudden death and his father’s ascension to Alpha, after his mother left, his cousin died… There were still the full moons, the one time a month where the pack seemed, if not perfect, then good. A family.

The shifting around others, the howling at each other, the play fighting and running after one another… Zuko takes in a deep breath.

“You’re going to have that back,” Jet says, putting a hand on top of Zuko’s knee again. But it doesn’t feel like too much at all; instead, Zuko feels grounded.

“I wanna be good,” Zuko says, feels almost like he threw up the words. It’s the first time he’s said it out loud and it feels… Well, there’s still a ball of nervousness in Zuko’s stomach.

Jet frowns and Zuko can see the hand not on his knee squeezing into a fist, though the one touching him remains as relaxed as ever.

“I don’t think you could ever be anything but good,” Jet says and it’s not that Zuko doubts his words, but he can also hear the pain in Jet’s words, how the sentence obviously ends in an unheard _unlike me_.

Zuko wants to tell him he’s wrong, but he can’t be sure, he doesn’t know. Jet’s eyes are red; who knows what color they would be if he was a Beta or an Omega.

But he does know one thing. And so he says it: “you’re good to me.”

Jet doesn’t say anything right away, then he smiles. It’s soft, though there’s still that familiar playful edge to it.

“I don’t know how anyone could be anything but good to you,” Jet says and this, this makes Zuko’s breath catch in his throat.

He swallows once, blinks rapidly to make sure he doesn’t cry.

_Not everyone feels that way_ , Zuko thinks but doesn’t say. _I’m not as good as you think,_ he opens his mouth to say, but closes it without saying.

Instead, he takes a deep breath.

It’s not that Zuko believes the past should simply be forgotten or ignored. But there are the things one can change, and there are those one can’t.

“I think you’re trying to be good too,” Zuko finally says and this time Jet squeezes the hand still on his knee, though it doesn’t hurt. He’s still quick to relax it again and try and remove it, but Zuko quickly lowers his hand on top, not allowing him to retreat, though he keeps his hold loose; if Jet does want to move his hand, he certainly won’t force him not to.

But Jet turns his eyes down to their hands and then, very slowly, shift his hand so their palms are touching. Zuko turns his eyes down too, see Jet’s thumb move in circles around the skin between Zuko’s thumb and index finger.

“Sometimes I wonder if that’s enough,” Jet says and Zuko looks questioningly at him, being too focused on their hands to remember what they’d been discussing. Jet raises his lips at him, but it barely resembles a smile. “Trying to be good.”

“It beats the alternative,” Zuko immediately counters, words that have been stuck in his mind for a very long time.

Jet stares at him for a couple seconds, then he smiles again, and this time it does look happier.

“I guess that’s a good point,” he says and Zuko nods, then squeezes Jet’s wrist once before once again relaxing his hand. Jet is still moving his thumb. “How are you feeling now?”

Zuko blinks, once again lost in the conversation. But this time Jet doesn’t clarify, instead Zuko is forced to think back on their conversation, to remember what he’d been doing before Jet showed up – trying to calm his nerves for his first full moon as a Beta in years.

“Good,” Zuko responds, nothing but the truth. He still feels like there’s a rock inside his stomach, but it’s not a big one, and it’s not one just of nervousness anymore. Instead, there’s excitement too.

“Good,” Jet says and then, very slowly, he leans forward. He exhales as he touches Zuko’s forehead with his own. “I’m glad you’re here, Zuko.”

“I’m glad you’re here too, Jet,” Zuko says with his eyes closed, hearing the way Jet’s breath gets caught coming out and allowing him the space to accept Zuko’s words without being seen.

Zuko loses track of time; has no idea how long the two of them stay like that. The position can’t be comfortable for Jet, his weight no longer resting fully on the floor, yet he doesn’t say anything, and neither does Zuko.

Instead, he breathes. Smells Jet’s – his _Alpha’s_ – smell and allows it to comfort him, hopes that his own smell is doing the same to Jet.

Jet’s hand is still below Zuko’s on his knee, and he moves them so they’re not just palm to palm, but fingers to fingers too, and then he interlaces them, hopes he’s not being too forward.

But Jet just inhales, like he’d climbed a hill. And Zuko smiles and continues to let his head rest against Jet’s.

Bring it on, full moon. Zuko can’t wait.


End file.
